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Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

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Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#111

Post by helloplanets »

luxuryballs wrote: post #46

Oh yeah I remember we met on video, you said how the people not chosen would be sent a link to a discord for “everyone else”, then after an email saying you went with someone else you never sent the link to the discord and then ghosted us. I made a mental note to remember that this guy was a liar who only said/did things for his own benefit.

Let me get this straight based on the other posts in this thread. You suggested the idea of the other person sending out invites to another server, and he said that he's already on it? And after he did not come up with the invite, he's a liar because he said he was already working on your suggestion but didn't go through with it? Or am I getting this wrong?

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#112

Post by echelon »

fwsgonzo wrote: post #37

I see alot of comments here who are wondering if they're good enough to join. At the same time, it looks like this group is very picky about who can join. Perhaps there is another Discord someone could setup where part-time game creators could join. I am making a procedurally generated world simulation game that is a little bit too early in the process to showcase, and definitely not work full-time on, but it still h…

Finally a game dev thread on HN that's more than an engine announcement!

> I am making a procedurally generated world simulation game

That's so awesome. Procedurally generated worlds and systems are so powerful, and they'd only going to grow more so with AI advances.

Would you or someone in this thread be interested in part time contract work at my AI startup? We're doing a lot of procedural generation and AI animation in Unreal Engine and I'd like to have more hands on deck than just me.

https://storyteller.ai

https://twitch.tv/FakeYouLabs

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#113

Post by adanto6840 »

DonHopkins wrote: post #58
adanto6840 wrote: post #4

I started a small "no-name" studio to build games handful of years ago. Built and released two games thus far -- SimAirport & SimCasino. I'd potentially be interested, my email is in profile if you'd like to reach out. :)

Arthur, I enjoyed playing your early version of SimAirport, and I'm glad you finished and released it -- that's excellent work and persistence! Will Wright always wanted to make a game called "SimTapeworm", however he could never get the green light on that from Maxis or EA. I hold out hope that some clever indie developer will figure out how to monetize the serious educational parasitic infection simulation genre. M…

I always enjoy seeing your posts on HN; I'm honored that you played the early versions of SA (and admittedly a little embarrassed at how rough & unpolished it was back then).

Really appreciate the kind words, means a lot coming from you -- thank you!

I don't remember if we actually shipped it or not, maybe it was only on a beta branch (or maybe it's sitting on a git branch still), but I actually implemented an "infectious disease" concept at one point. I think the idea at the time was for it to be a holiday "easter egg" maybe, but I don't recall for sure. I do vividly recall testing it one morning, though, and I had the "contagion" values (way) too high. I'm pretty sure the concept was wholly taken from Theme Park, where I recall one post-coaster puking agent could yield a rapid mess. The day I was testing my copy, I ended up making a video of the hilarity that ensued when a single infected passenger deplaned and suddenly there were hundreds (maybe thousands) of agents (passengers) all "stumbling around" spreading the ultra-contagious disease like wildfire, making a disgusting sound & leaving the floors covered with ick. I'll have to search the repo history -- maybe it's worth revisiting!

A disease tycoon, eh? Like SimAnt, but on a wholly different scale? =D

Would love to connect if you're ever in Vegas! Thanks again for the kind words, makes my day & sincerely means a lot to me. :)

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#114

Post by chaostheory »

kirab wrote: post #110
chaostheory wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re saying that you don’t want exclusivity, but that’s what you have with such an arbitrary constraint. People are right to call you out.

They want a tight-knit group. Which is inherently exclusive but that's not the predominant attribute.

The result is the same, so it's a moot point.

Why post this to such a large community like HN if they're adamant about exclusivity? Why not post it somewhere smaller like Indie Hackers or a reddit sub instead?

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#115

Post by adanto6840 »

capableweb wrote: post #10
adanto6840 wrote: post #4

I started a small "no-name" studio to build games handful of years ago. Built and released two games thus far -- SimAirport & SimCasino. I'd potentially be interested, my email is in profile if you'd like to reach out. :)

Funny to come across you here! I've played lots of SimAirport since something like 2017 I think, somewhere around the initial version available on Steam. Thanks a lot for providing countless of fun hours managing an airport :)

It's incredibly rewarding & gratifying to hear that, thank you!

I still firmly believe that making games -- especially under an "old-school" business model (ie no loot-boxes, no microTX, etc) -- has to rank extremely high on the "work gratification" scale.

I'm obviously super small -- but it's AWESOME to know >80k people have played SimAirport for >20 hours and ~20k have played >100hrs (!!) -- so damn rewarding!

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#117

Post by adanto6840 »

ChicagoBoy11 wrote: post #7
adanto6840 wrote: post #4

I started a small "no-name" studio to build games handful of years ago. Built and released two games thus far -- SimAirport & SimCasino. I'd potentially be interested, my email is in profile if you'd like to reach out. :)

I just took a peak at SimAirport... just insane. As someone whose coding has amount to little else but a few small webapps here and there, it completely and utterly boggles my mind that a single person would be able to accomplish something like that. I was aware of the RollerCoaster Tycoon person, but I figured that was an abherration. Completely amazing and awe-inspiring. How on Earth do you get going on something l…

Initially, thought it would be easy -- it's all simple logic, right? Will be far less tedious & mundane than doing web/app development, right? Haha. I was in for quite the rude awakening, but luckily the challenges ended up being a pleasant and enjoyable surprise (at least on the whole).

Lots of work is the answer, though.

We actually got to Early Access release in ~11 months (~20 man-months). We had to learn a new programming language & learn a game engine during that time, too (and learn what a game engine really was/what it meant). Really though, I think the most difficult (and important) part was more about learning the nuances of game development, even just understanding the (understandably high) UX expectations that a player has from a game -- it took a while to really "get there" and I'm still learning, every day.

It's also worth mentioning that SimAirport was really not very good when we initially released it -- definitely rushed to release, far too early, and it was a mess at that point. After the EA release another ~3yr of full-time development went into it (and more dev resources), and it became a much better game/product in that time.

I wish I could work on SimAirport forever.

That's the downside with the games industry; it's ultra competitive and the amount of competition is increasing every day. Much of "the money" is heavily concentrated at the "top" of the pyramid, amongst a relatively small selection of titles. It's not the easy way, I can say that with confidence.

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#118

Post by quelsolaar »

Yes I'm a lone indie developer. A long time ago I made a game called LOVE. Now im making a Real-time stealth tactics game called EXO. However I'm not doing it full-time.

Sounds like a great group! Making a game yourself can be very tough, but also rewarding. Having people to share your experience with is really important. If you ever want a guest who spent many long years working on a game and came out of if scared but a happier person, please reach out.

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#119

Post by meheleventyone »

hitpointdrew wrote: post #104
mywittyname wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every artist is Michelangelo. Collaboration and feedback can be extremely helpful for creative endeavors. Successful writers have editors, successful musicians have producers, successful directors have EPs, etc. Sometimes the one-man-army approach works, but especially early on, it's best to get feedback.

> Collaboration and feedback can be extremely helpful for creative endeavors. Successful writers have editors, successful musicians have producers, successful directors have EPs Fair enough, sometimes art is collaborative, but even in your example it's collaborative with a very small group of experts, who also have skin the game. It isn't collaborative with 80 different arm-chair musicians, or 100's of arm-chair writ…

Most game devs like to interact with their audience and contrary to your opinion don’t pay attention to or incorporate every suggestion that comes along. Most player feedback is terrible! Even good feedback has to go through a process of picking it apart and trying to understand the root of what the player is saying or suggesting.

From an artistic point of view feedback from players is essential because games are based around an interactive dialog with the player. As a sculptor you can see the end result. As a game dev you can’t see how other people will play your game and it’s incredibly eye opening when you do.

Re: Ask HN: Any solo game developers here?

#120

Post by namrog84 »

I am 38 and recently quit my job at Xbox Microsoft as a Senior Engineer (mostly C++) to pursue fulltime indie gamedev. As I've quit my day job, I am all in on this. I have a few friends who will be quitting their jobs in a some years and it's sorta on me right now to start generating revenue to help speed up them joining me if at all possible. I have a long runway and expect quite a few failures on the way but it's my goal to find success and balance.

I've only ever done various ludumdare or other misc gamejams, maybe 20 in my life. No substantial games to show/demo. Have used many tools and frameworks over the years, such as flash, libGDX(Java), Visual 3D, Unity, and finally a die hard Unreal Engine fan.

There is a lot of other posts already here of far more successful and qualified folks. So if not OP, if there are other communities with less restriction. I am always open to more.

Discord: namrog84#0880

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